Environmental impact of mealworms compared to other animal products.

<p>Energy use due to the production of one kg of edible protein. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#s3" target="_blank">Results</a> from this study depicted in green. Minimum (blue) and maximum (red) literature data is adapted from de Vries & de Boer (2010).</p

Resource use per year and environmental impact.

<p>Global warming potential (GWP), energy use (EU) and land use (LU) are expressed per unit of input based on economic allocation.</p

Environmental impact of inputs in a mealworm production system.

<p>Absolute and relative contribution global warming potential (GWP), energy use (EU) and land use (LU) for the production of one kg of fresh mealworms based on economic allocation.</p

The mealworm production system.

<p>Flows entering the company are on the left, centrally the production steps are shown and flows exiting the system are on the right. For flow quantities see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#pone-0051145-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p

Environmental impact of mealworms compared to other animal products.

<p>Land use due to the production of one kg of edible protein. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051145#s3" target="_blank">Results</a> from this study depicted in green. Minimum (blue) and maximum (red) literature data is adapted from de Vries & de Boer (2010).</p

Average fatty acid composition of Argentinean cockroach, Black soldier fly, Yellow mealworm and House cricket reared on four experimental diets and their respective control diets.

<p>Average fatty acid composition of Argentinean cockroach, Black soldier fly, Yellow mealworm and House cricket reared on four experimental diets and their respective control diets.</p

Total fatty acid and crude protein content as a percentage of dry matter of Argentinean cockroaches (A), Black soldier flies (B), Yellow mealworms without carrot (C), Yellow mealworms with carrot (D) and House crickets (E) reared on experimental (HPHF = high protein, high fat; HPLF = high protein, low fat; LPHF = low protein, high fat; LPLF = low protein, low fat), or control diets.

<p>Total fatty acid and crude protein content as a percentage of dry matter of Argentinean cockroaches (A), Black soldier flies (B), Yellow mealworms without carrot (C), Yellow mealworms with carrot (D) and House crickets (E) reared on experimental (HPHF = high protein, high fat; HPLF = high protein, low fat; LPHF = low protein, high fat; LPLF = low protein, low fat), or control diets.</p

Calculated CO₂ production of provided feed for five insect species recalculated per kg of animal body mass.

<p>Calculated CO₂ production of provided feed for five insect species recalculated per kg of animal body mass.</p

CH₄, N₂O, CO₂ eq. and NH₃ production (average ± standard deviation) per kilogram of bodymass per day for <i>five insect species</i>, pigs and beef cattle.

<p>BM = Body Mass;</p><p>N/A = Not Available;</p><p>Reported values for pigs and beef cattle were obtained from: <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Aarnink1" target="_blank">[5]</a> Aarnink et al., 1995; <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-GrootKoerkamp1" target="_blank">[49]</a> Groot Koerkamp et al., 1998; <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Demmers2" target="_blank">[52]</a> Demmers et al., 2001; <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Nicks1" target="_blank">[50]</a> Nicks et al., 2003; <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Beauchemin1" target="_blank">[59]</a> Beauchemin & McGinn, 2005; <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Cabaraux1" target="_blank">[48]</a> Cabaraux et al., 2009 and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014445#pone.0014445-Harper1" target="_blank">[53]</a> Harper et al., 2009. Mean values bearing different superscripts in a column differ significantly (P<0.05).</p

Mean values and standard deviations of temperature, humidity, ventilation, hours of light per day and average start and final weight for five insect species.

<p>Mean values and standard deviations of temperature, humidity, ventilation, hours of light per day and average start and final weight for five insect species.</p